Tag Archives | Pushup

Igniting Your Reason. What keeps you Motivated?

By Jon Magno on July 25, 2017 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Mobility, Other Skills, Uncategorized

So I was coaching a small group of three people today working on unilateral body weight strengthening and finishing off with balance skill work focusing on the frogger lead-up stunt. After the session ended an all too familiar question came up from one of the ladies that was training this afternoon.

“How do you keep doing it? How do you keep working out?”

My immediate answer was that its hard, I’m currently having trouble staying as motivated, and I don’t consistently work out.(Although I am probably a bit more active than the average person!)

This wasn’t the most sales invoked answer but it was honest. I tend to try to be honest about these things as it won’t serve any purpose to the person to give them a half-made answer. Especially when I’m supposed to be there to guide them and support them in the right direction.

This next piece is where I got deeper into the question. I said that if you want to work out or train more, its gotta be something more than the workout.

For me, it was always about being able to perform. To be able to utilize the human body in ways that others could only dream of. Whether it was in combat situations or amazing feats.

I then asked her what does she like to do. Things that are active and with body.

She came up with multiple sports and multiple activities. ( She’s a very driven and motivated type. Being in the silicon valley, that’s a given. But it also means that motivation is usually directed to work.)

None of the activities had anything really in common. Some were team sports, while others were individual.

I could have left it there, but I had to dig deeper. I then asked her what made her stay. What was the defining reason that got her to keep going to one of the activites.

Now I’m not going to go into more details so we can fast forward to the reason for this story. ( hint: it involved milestones and progression)

So the reason for this story is that if you really want to make working out a consistent part of your life, you’ve got to find a goal bigger than just working out. ( Remember working out as it is today wasn’t even really a thing until the 1980s.)

Once you’ve found that one thing. Take a look at what things you’ve done the longest. Then find out why.

Finally; and this is probably those most important part.

Make a decision. Pull the trigger. Flip the light switch on.

Because if you don’t do anything, nothing will happen.

To help you with flipping the switch, take a look at this motivational video below!

Finally, since this site is all about hand balancing, check out the Secrets of the Handstand System!

Stay Inverted!
-Jonathan Magno

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Movement Flow to Overcome Plateaus!

By Jon Magno on July 22, 2017 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Mobility, Other Skills, Uncategorized

Have you ever been stuck on a task that you couldn’t get past? You try to understand or finish the task but seem to meet consistent stops. You go through all the different variations you can try to accomplish the task, and probably all of the different levels of frustration, but still can’t seem to complete your goal.

Truth be told. This happens quite a bit. Especially when you’re learning a new body skill. When this occurs, it just means that we don’t internally have enough information to make a change. So if that’s the case, what can we do to make the change happen.

Simple.

Change your perspective and safely experiment.

The basic idea is that once you start adding new connected stimuli and experiences, you give your mind more to work and play with.

Let’s put it into the framework of skill development. When you’re working on a new skill, a good thing to do is isolate the skill. People tend to do this by breaking it down into separated movements, which is an excellent way to drill the skill. Although, they don’t think of the working on the skill as an isolated training method in itself. When you work on the handstand for example. Your main focus is to get the handstand and in turn that causes you to laser beam all your energy and thoughts into that one move.

But to gain mastery or even just attain a move you also have to test it. Honestly, the best way that I’ve found to test new moves is to place them in combinations or flows. Sometimes the combinations are predetermined to work on specific aspects and other times they are done in a free-flow to really gauge where everything is at.

This is important because it causes you to put your body in situations you would never have thought of while going through the different transition. In a sense, you add more information to utilize in your library with each flow session.

I’ll get more into the state of flows later. But, just in case you want a different way to look at it, check out the video below!

For another way to play with and test your skilled flow, check out the GMB Vitamin Program

Stay Inverted!
-Jonathan Magno

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Drifting Cars and Your Hand Positions for the Handstands!

By Jon Magno on July 15, 2017 in Acrobatics, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Mobility, Uncategorized

So this post comes a bit later than usual because I’ve been busy doing a small update on the training studio while getting ready for a bigger update. Hint: Colors are awesome!

For today’s post I’m going to be talking about cars and your handstand.

Specifically how your hand positioning can affect how much drive and control you need to balance while you kick up into the handstand.

There are two main hand positions your see. Either with your fingers facing forward or with you fingers externally rotated to the side. Although I have been known to play with my hands turned in as well.

Either way you choose to position your hands will work. But each position has its own set of rules to help you achieve the balance you’re looking for.

Lets take the turned out or externally rotated position. You can liken this position to a force choke in star wars. With the alignment of this position, your kick up becomes smoother and faster. Which means that you need to have good solid control to put on the brakes once you’ve reached the apex and are ready to keep the hold.

In contrast, the fingers forward position is similar to drifting. The muscles and fascia counterbalance each other to create drag and slow down your kick up. This gives you a little more control so that you don’t fall over on your backside. Although you might have a problem with underkicking the handstand or not kicking with enough force to get into position.

Test which version works best for you and look at the video below for deeper information and demonstrations on learning how to drift your handstands.

To get a done-for-you blueprint on the handstand check out The Secrets of the Handstand System today!

Stay Inverted!
-Jonathan Magno

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A Superhero Solution to a Tiring Exercise

By Jon Magno on July 5, 2017 in Mobility, Planche, Presses & Pushup, Uncategorized

The Burpee!

There. I’ve said it.

Love it or hate it. The burpee is a mainstay in most fitness routines. I’ve even used it in my programming, although sparingly. Don’t get me wrong, the burpee is a solid exercise covering many different muscles groups while including strength, balance work, and power development. Although I normally see people use it as an ending metabolic finisher or something to throw in and get their clients tired. Honestly, it actually pains me to watch people run through technique without activating the correct muscles.

There’s a lot going on in that seemingly simplistic exercise, but that’s for another day and another breakdown.

Today I’m going to talk about doing something different with your burpee. Giving it a little bit more mobility, while also working on your motor control and endurance.

I usually breakdown the normal burpee into 3 different pieces. No different here.

This Superhero burpee includes a forward crawl, lateral jump, and even a cartwheel!

Take a look below to see how you can turn your burpee more superheroic: Spider-Man Style!

If you liked the video and want to develop your body’s endurance and conditioning, check out The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Conditioning!

Stay Inverted!
-Jonathan Magno

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An Easy Fix to a Pressing Predicament

By Jon Magno on June 28, 2017 in Mobility, Planche, Presses & Pushup, Uncategorized

Today we are going to jump back towards simpler times with a supposedly simple exercise.

The Pushup.

Although it is a seemingly easy exercise, it can cause trouble for some people.

Whether it be sinking of the hips or lack, lack of core engagement, or any of the other number of possible problems.

Don’t worry though.

There are many methods to fix your pushup, and I’ve found a simple way to get you to feel the right movement while using a simple prop.

Take a look at the video below to see the simple tip to a better pushup!

If you liked the handstand pushup in the beginning of the video and want to develop them yourself, check out The Ultimate Guide to Handstand Pushups!

Stay Inverted!
-Jonathan Magno

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Combining Parallette Presses and Holds to Build Strength and Skill

By admin on March 22, 2011 in Uncategorized

Ryan Hurst from Gold Medal Bodies is here to show you how to move forward with your parallette training. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2. This is the third in a three part series.

By now, you should have developed some foundation strength in the basic parallette press and L-sit. That’s a great start, but we started off this series talking about advanced exercises like planches, and maybe it still seems like we’re a long way off from there.

Though it’s true we’re still not ready for advanced work, we can prepare for it by taking these basic skills and combining them into a combination routine.

Anyone following Logan is not going to be a stranger to the concept of sophisticated skills such as handstands and bridging. You’ve also been exposes to the idea of building from simple variations to more difficult ones. One way we like to achieve this is by building combinations – what we like to call “flows” – that put the basic movements together in more interesting and challenging ways.

Today’s video covers a simple flow exercise you can do on the parallettes.

As you can see, we’ve added one more basic exercise, then put them together into a simple combination.

The routine goes like this:
1. Pushup
2. Swing forward to L-sit
3. Swing back to inverted press
4. Repeat

Perform this for 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 repetitions. Do this 3 days in a row, rest one day, then test your strength the next day to check your progress. We’ve included a sample two week program using this routine that will get you ready to begin serious parallette training – the kind that moves you toward advanced skills.

Download link for sample program

Of course, there’s much more to using parallettes than this. The possibilities are really almost endless, but you’ll need some basic strength and control before you can pull off the fancy stuff.

The program above is a starting point. Once you’ve given that a shot, we encourage you to check out our Parallettes One course, which takes these basics to the next level, building pressing strength and skill that will serve you well for any goal.

Gold Medal Bodies has a full blown course on Parallette Training. Until the end of March you can save 15% off the price of any P1 bundle by using the coupon code ‘LEGENDARY’.

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Handstands When Your Wrists Hurt

By admin on February 12, 2009 in Handstands

A common problem many beginners have with handstands is that their wrists can’t take it.

I know the feeling. From a football injury back in high school my right wrist has never been the same. Its less flexible and even hurts when too much pressure is put on it in certain ways.

Actually working on handstands to regain that flexibility has helped a lot over the years. But recently, due to some other work its been flaring up again.

This means any handstands I do, I’m favoring and leaning to my left side which isn’t good. But there is a way to work around the problem.

And that is doing handstands on bars. Many objects will work; parallettes, pushup handles, kettlebells and more. As long as its stable you can do hand balancing on it.

At first you may have difficulty balancing since it changes the way your hands have to move, but with a little practice it’ll get easier, even more so than balancing on flat ground since you can grip it hard.

So if you have any wrist troubles hop on some bars to give your wrists much needed relief. Even if you don’t use these tools to change up the feel of your handstands.

And if you’re doing advanced moves where the wrist must bend even more, like in a planche or some presses, again the bars can be a big help.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. I write more about wrist issues in a special report you can find in the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.

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Tiger Bend

By admin on February 7, 2008 in Presses & Pushup

I was shooting some video a couple days ago doing a variety of hand balancing stunts. One of them was the Forearm Stand. Prof. Orlick also called it a Tiger Stand. From the stand you can do what is called a Tiger Bend, but we’ll start with the stand first.

This is a great trick in and of itself but its also a good way to work up to a full on handstand. Since you are resting on your entire lower arm and hand you have a bigger base with which to balance.

One you overcome the oddness factor of trying this exercise for the first time you can see the benefits. All the main points of holding a handstand are still there, like keeping tight, but you may have to arch your back a little more for this one.

Of course the ultimate goal with this exercise is to do what’s known as a Tiger Bend. An advanced exercise for sure. It involves going from the Forearm Stand up into a Handstand. With a little overbalancing and strong triceps you can get there.

Sig Klein doing a Tiger Bend

Since few of us will be able to pull that one off at the present time here are two easier ways. Do the negative movement which is dropping from a Handstand into a Forearm Stand. When you go for this don’t just fall into the position but control it as much as possible.

You can also do Tiger Bend Pushups. Get in a normal pushup position except you are resting on your forearms instead of the hands. Without any rocking motion pushup on to your hands to the top position and lower back down.

You don’t see these moves too often but that doesn’t mean they aren’t great.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. For the super advanced hand balancer you can try to duplicate Johnny Weber’s one arm Tiger Bend. Find out how to do it in The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing. The picture above is of Sig Klein from the same book.

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Handstands and Wrist Strength Part 2 and More

By admin on November 1, 2007 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands

Last time we talked about how you can overcome pain and poor flexibility in your wrists so that you can pursue hand balancing. A subscriber pointed out a few points which are certainly worth mentioning.

There is a way to work around this problem. Handstands can also be done on parallel bars or pushup handles and still be very effective. Rings work too but are even more of a challenge.

Though the body mechanics remain the same, how you go about balancing becomes a different matter.

For most people it will be much harder to balance because your base is smaller. Not the best way to get started on your handstands. But with some work you can balance with ease on any parallettes. And certainly if you are using a wall it is not a problem.

While this is a viable method it will not help the problem itself. You need to build the strength and flexibility and not skirt the issue.

Use this method to get some practice in the handstands if you need it but be sure to work the wrists. After all you can’t go wrong with a strong pair of hands.

Now on to a couple announcements.

The survey is now closed. Thank to all of you for participating. It will take some effort to pour over all the results but I can tell you they will result in some new and exciting changes to the site.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

Secondly, I will be holding a contest soon. The details will be in my next email but for now just know that you will have a chance to win a full copy of the Hand Balancing Mastery Course coming soon. In fact, there may be more than one up for grabs.

The particulars on this new product will be announced in the next weeks as well and you won’t want to miss out. So until then…

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Handstands, Wrist Strength and Pain

By admin on October 25, 2007 in Flexibility & Contortion

Another question from a reader. And this isn’t the first time I have seen this problem pop up. Read on and find out what to do about it.

hello Logan,

well i have a question for you,

after a handstand practice i get wrist pain over the back of my wrist and sometimes on the sides the pain shows up while stress the wrist on pushups/ handstand position and sometimes on Ulnar Deviation and Radial Deviation

what can i do about it, maybe there are exercises that can strengthen my wrists and tendon ??

thanks 🙂
haggai D.B.

Let me first start of saying I am not a doctor. That may be obvious but I cannot diagnose what the problem is exactly, especially over the internet.

Hand Balancing takes a large degree of hand, wrist, and finger strength and flexibility. Not everyone has the flexibility to keep their hand back 90 degrees which is necessary to do a handstand.

I should say, not everyone starts of with this flexibility. But it can be gained through persistent effort.

Back in High School I suffered an injury to my right wrist. I would get shocked with pain any time I hit someone with my hands and had to get a special cast device made to help me out. Unfortunately it did affect my playing.

When I first started with handstands about a year after, I could not jump right into a handstand. In fact I still usually don’t. I take the time to stretch my wrists through flexion and extension. This primes them for any handstand work.

Even now my right wrist is less flexible than my right, but it has gotten better by leaps and bounds since then.

If holding a handstand causes to much pain then you will need to start at a manageable level and build from there. Pain is a sign you are pushing past your limits.

Do pushups or the pushup position cause you the same pain?

Wherever you need to start, go from there. It may take time but you will build the strength and flexibility to survive all hand balancing without the slightest discomfort.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. The results of the survey are still pouring in. If you haven’t taken the time yet to fill it out and get your f.ree report, do so now. I can tell you that the site will be changing for the better and soon because of your response.

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